The 2020 PVFA Knock-Out Tournament is close to reach its end as the semi-finals were contested this week at Port Vila Stadium in Vanuatu. Galaxy FC and Tupuji Imere are the two finalists after winning their respective clashes.
Galaxy FC and Yatel clashed in the first semi-final. Bong Kalo opened the scoreboard for Galaxy while Joseph Iaruel extended the lead after a nice cross by Brazilian star Roberson. The third and final goal of the match was netted by Etienne Naieu.
Galaxy FC starting eleven against Yatel FC
Tupuji Imere are the second finalists as they have beaten Tafea by 3-0 in the semi-finals. The final clash is scheduled to take place on this Saturday. You can check more information about this tournament by clicking here.
After a long wait, football is finally back in Tonga as the Challenge Cup is set to kick-off on this Saturday at Lototonga Soccer Centre. The tournament will be contested in four different categories: Men’s, Women’s, U14 Men’s and U16 Women’s.
In the Men’s Touranment, current league champions Veitongo will debut against Ha’amoko while traditional Lotoha’apai United will clash against Navutoka II.
Veitongo’s squad in 2020 OFC Champions League – OFC Media
Veitongo are also the current champions of Women’s League. They are going to debut in the tournament against Lapaha. The Challenge Cup is a warm-up competition for the National Leag You can check the full schedule of Challenge Cup’s first round by clicking here.
Lae City won all their four matches since the resumption of the PNG National Soccer League – the team coached by Bob Morris is impressing and currently is at the top of the table of the most important football league of Papua New Guinea.
Counting on players of the importance of Ronald Warisan, Alwin Komolong and Emmanuel Simon is certainly something important for Morris and his impressive winning streak, but one particular player is at the spotlight due his recent goalscoring form: Jacob Sabua.
The Papua New Guinean international scored in all of the four matches played by Lae City since the return of the national league – including a thunderbolt against Gulf Komara and the winning goal against Hekari United – something quite unusual for a midfielder, but not for Sabua: the midfielder is known for being always attacking the opposition box, presenting himself in forward positions to finish the plays.
Jacob Sabua celebrating his goal against Hekari United – Simon Keslep
Despite the 26-year-old is still to score for the PNG Kapuls, Sabua is an important figure for Lae City for a long period and is proving his capabilities in the current season. The goalscoring form of the player continued in the strong 9-2 win over FC Bougainville and also in the most recent Lae City’s win over FC Kutubu by 3-1; Sabua scored once in all of the four matches.
Lae City is proving to be the strongest contender to win the minor premiership of the national league as the team is currently at the top of the table with two points ahead of the second place Vitiaz United. If Lae gets the glory one more time in Papua New Guinea, to count on the current Jacob Sabua’s performances might be instrumental in the process.
If it was not Zibraaz Sahib‘s well-taken penalty at the 90th minute of play against Nasinu in the last match of Lautoka in the Vodafone Premier League, the Sugar City Boys would be suffering their fourth defeat in the eight matches so far in the national league.
After a terrible campaign at OFC Champions League this year, Lautoka was expected to return stronger after the COVID-19 break for the Vodafone Premier League and 2020 edition of the Battle of Giants. The new coach Ravinesh Kumar was a big hope for the Blues, but it seems the coach with the best profile in Fijian football currently is not being able to put in practice what his team needs to be back to the winning ways.
Lautoka squad before clash against Nasinu – Fiji FA Media
Since Kumar is in charge of Lautoka the team was able to record only one win so far in the season – on 19th July against Navua by 2-1. The Battle of Giants campaign was also very frustrating for the Lautoka fans: three defeats in three games, being knocked-out of the tournament in the group stage.
A team with players of the quality of Dave Radrigai, Kolinio Sivoki and Shivam Naidu should not be in this position at the moment; something pretty awkward is happening in Lautoka to have such bad performances so far.
Despite Lautoka is at the mid of the table with 11 points from eight games played, they still have time to bounce back in the league to contest for the top spots in the national league – but they will need to do it fast and win in the next weekend against Nadi could mean a lot for the team coached by Ravinesh Kumar.
An important achievement for Solomon Islands football was sealed today as the talented youngster Ali Mekawir turned himself into the first ever Solomon Islander to score a goal in the well-known English FA Cup. The player helped his side Langney Wanderers to surpass Tower Hamlets by 3-1 in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup – the first elimination round of the tournament.
Mekawir was not the only Solomon Islander involved in the game; his compatriot Ian Kula also represented Langney Wanderers in the game and ended up collecting the Man of the Match award in his side win in the first round of the FA Cup.
Ali Mekawir
Both Mekawir and Kula travelled to England alongside Solomon Islands’ private football academy Royals for a period of trainings and friendly matches in the country. Both players caught attention of Langney Wanderers and signed a deal to represent the club. Mekawir already represented Solomon Islands at both U17 and U20 levels internationally.
Langney current plays in the Southern Combination Football League Premier Division, the 9th tier of football in England. The first matches of the league will be played on 5th September, but the dream of the FA Cup continues for Langney as they head for the next round of the tournament after beating Tower Hamlets in the first match of the 2020/21 season – counting on talent coming from Pacific might be instrumental for Lagney in the new season.
One more important move for New Zealand and Oceania football; the former Team Wellington and Western Suburbs talented midfielder Marko Stamenic is the new player of one of the most important clubs from Denmark: FC København.
Stamenic was part of the U17 squad of New Zealand that took part in the last U17 World Cup held in Brazil last year. The New Zealanders were knocked-out in the group stage stage after losing two matches for Angola and Brazil and beating Canada in the process.
Marko Stamenic (center) in Denmark – FCK.DK
Stamenic was training in Denmark, but he was forced to move back to New Zealand due the COVID-19 pandemics. The player was impressing in Europe and continue to play his club football for Western Suburbs in the Central League. Now, with the borders reopened, the 18-year-old player was able to return to Denmark to confirm his deal for the club.
“The talent department has signed 18-year-old Marko Stamenic, who is a central midfielder from New Zealand and will be part of our U19 squad“, FC København website presented the New Zealander in a press release – “Marko has previously been with us on a training stay, and we are happy that we have been able to attract such an exciting and talented player, and we welcome Marko to FC København“, completed.
Hekari United’s last match against Vitiaz United should be a happy day for Koriak Upaiga as this clash would mark his return after missing some matches due to an injury. However this game was not so good for him as the 33-year-old left back made a crucial mistake that culminated in the goal scored by Jonathan Allen.
Upaiga tried to pass the ball to a teammate but Vitiaz’s Mathias Oyabua managed to steal the ball and pass to Jonathan Allen who found the net to open the scoreboard in the first half. However Hekari United managed to equalize a few minutes later with a goal scored by Michael Foster. You can check both goals by clicking here.
Koriak Upaiga made a big mistake against Vitiaz United – OFC Media
Upaiga and his teammates lost the opportunity to reach the second position in the table as they are now three points behind Vitiaz United. Despite his mistake, Upaiga is loved by Hekari United supporters. The experienced left back has a good reputation and this fail against Vitiaz United does not damage his legacy in the club.
Hekari are currently in the third position in 2019-20 PNG National Soccer League with 30 points in fourteen matches. You can check the league standings by clicking here.
After being out of Hekari United’s squad for two weeks, Ishmael Pole is back from suspension which means that the 27-year-old goalkeeper must be available for Saturday’s match against Gulf Komara at PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby.
Pole was red carded in Hekari’s 1-0 loss to Lae City on August 15. The PNG Kapuls member was forced to leave his penalty box to tackle Lae City’s opponent, unfortunately he commited a foul and denied a clear goal possibility outside the box – what, according to the rules, is a red card offense.
Ishmael Pole was red carded against Lae City FC – OFC Media
Dave Tomare was being the starting goalkeeper during Pole’s absence. Now head coach Eric Komeng has his first choice keeper back. Hekari United are currently in the third position in the league with 30 points in fourteen matches. You can check the standings of 2019-20 PNG National Soccer League by clicking here.
The young Tafea’s defender Junior Felix was one of the stand-out players of the first ever edition of the VFF National League Championship. The talented player helped Shefa FA to clinch the title after beating Sanma FA in the final by 3-2.
Felix, that is being captaining his team Tafea for a while in the PVFA Premier League, was praised by local media and fans due his performances in the competition. Many of the fans supported the call that Felix is deserving a spot in the Vanuatu national team, specially due the football displayed by the defender in the newly-raised tournament.
Junior Felix – Vanuatu Sport
Shefa was one of the best defensive sides of the entire tournament having Felix as the leader of their defensive system. Felix club Tafea is also having a very good season so far in the Port Vila regional league as they are battling at the top of the table against Ifira Black Bird and Galaxy FC.
While international football is still on hold to restart due COVID-19 precautions, the 23-year-old central back will expect to continue his good form in Vanuatu in order to impress VFF board to get a call up when the international duties return. The PVFA Premier League is set to restart this month and Tafea will be counting on a Junior Felix in a very good moment of form.
The New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses was already an A-League star – after clinching his 4th title in the Australian top-tier for Syndey FC in the last Sunday the Kiwi turned himself certainly into a legend in the most important football league of Australia.
The first title of Kosta was back in 2011 when he helped Brisbane Roar to celebrate the glory, then All Whites‘ member was part of Melbourbe Victory titles in 2015 and 2018. Now, in 2020, all the issues of the COVID-19 were not able to stop the premiers Sydney to confirm their favouritism and beat Melbourne City in the extra-time thanks to a goal of Australian international Rhyan Grant.
The 30-year-old Barbarouses already played a total of 231 matches in A-League and scored 69 goals – including both regular season and finals – what makes him the 4th all-time top scorer of the league. In the 2019/20 season, Barbarouses scored eight goals in the succesful campaign of his Sydney FC.
Kosta Barbarouses
Barbarouses, that already represented New Zealand for 46 times, is certainly one of the most important figures of the A-League of all-time. The player that seemed to be unsuccessful in Europe in stints playing in Russia and Greece, capitalised most of his career achievements in the Australian top-professional football league playing for Brisbane, Wellington, Melbourne Victory and Sydney.
A potential move to leave A-League seems unlikely now for the experienced player – it seems the New Zealander will be looking to lift the league’s trophy for the fifth time in the 2020/21 season as he contract is set to expire in 2022.
Football will restart soon for Barbarouses and Sydney FC as the club is still taking part of the AFC Champions League and the club is set to take on the Chinese giants Shanghai SIPG next month for the continuation of the continental tournament that was forced to stop due COVID-19 pandemics – and the continental glory is something that both Barbarouses and Syndey are still looking to add to their profiles.
Oceania Football Center 